Learning Circles

Creating and Walking Your Own Path. - Sharon Hill and Gryphon Rosemead
We will gather during this quiet Winter season and use crafts, spells,
journals, herbology, guided meditation, group activities and group discussion
to discover the Sacred Path that already lies within us. Come query the
elements, consult your inner wisdom and open to Divinity in this active,
interactive and introspective experience with Sharon Hill and Gryphon Rosemead.

This is a five hour workshop meeting both Friday evening and Saturday morning.

Dream Time Pleasures - Becky Starr
In this workshop we will create two herbal delights to relax and enhance your
dream time. The first is a delicious herbal bath aromatic that will soften
the skin while relaxing the mind. We will use lavender, rose and chamomile
herbs and the skin soften properties of oatmeal and sea-salt. After that, we
will look at dream pillows to assist your journey into the land of dreams and
the many different herbal mixtures that can aid us. Little-to-no sewing skills
required.

Finding Your Inner Wisdom: Creating a Unique Divination Tool - Becky Starr
Symbols are everywhere - around us in our daily lives and on our different
paths. But symbols, unlike words, speak to a deeper part of the brain - the
intuitive part. Sometimes, the symbols that others have chosen for divination, such as Runes or Tarot images, just don't resonate within us. In this workshop, we will explore many different symbols and how we can create our own, personal divination tool using symbols of our own path and choosing. Bring your creativity, and a sense of adventure, for we will each be creating a unique guide to our inner wisdom!

"I've got your number!" - Brenda Berry
When you say or hear that, don't laugh. Your name and birth date may be your
fortune - or your misfortune. For your name is your number and your number is
part of an age-old science, the science of Numerology. It is an exact science
but a simple one. If you know your name and birth date, and can count to 10,
you can discover your own destiny - by simple figures. It's as easy as that.
It's as exact at this:

By taking the numerical value of each letter in your name and adding them
by a process of easy arithmetic, and then applying the same technique to your
birth date, you can pick the right jobs, mates, friends, places and times -
you can show yourself how and when to solve each important problem in your
life, and when is the best time to implement those decisions. It is also a
science of vibration. Everything in the universe moves - up, down, around or
across, fast or slow - and it moves at a certain rate - it's own. This rate of
movement can be measured numerically. This applies to you, to the world around
you, to your personal relation to the world, and to the people in your life.

Numerology is as old as recorded history. It is also as new as the next
decision you are going to make. Where friends advise you, Numerology directs
you. Join me and I'll show you just how easy it is to get your number.

Basket Making as a Moving Meditation - Tamia
Basket making is one of the oldest craft forms and is one of the few that has
not been mechanized. Most indigenous cultures have a basketry tradition - some
with complex methods that have been lost from the current knowledge base. This
workshop will provide an overview of basketry techniques and history. We will
focus on the individual construction of twined baskets, a form that is ideally
suited to meditation and completion within the span of a weekend. Materials,
sufficient for each person to complete a medium-sized basket, will be provided. Handouts for continuing with other basket techniques will be available.

This is a six hour workshop meeting both Saturday morning and afternoon.

Gift of Pleasure: Hand and Foot Massage - Dick Merritt
Being able to touch skillfully and sensitively enhances our sensual expression.
To touch with awareness is a beautiful gift for a friend or lover. Massage and
the healing power of touch underlie most bodywork and healing energy
modalities. It can be a part of many diverse spiritual paths. Besides, it is
fun.

Workshop consists of demonstrations and practice. Participants will learn
to give and exchange relaxing and healing massage of the hands and feet. Wear
clothing loose enough to grant access to the arm up to the elbow and the lower
leg up to the knee. Bring a towel for each participant. Oil is furnished.

Hiking in the Winter Landscape - Staff
Fairy Stone has many trails to hike. One of the ways to listen to the rhythms
of nature is to take a leisurely hike through the winter landscape. It can be
a veritable walking meditation in silence. Join us and enjoy the Zen of the
winter world.

The hike will be Sunday morning

Biographies

Sharon Hill is a licensed clinical social worker in North Carolina.
She has been exploring eclectic spirituality for over thirteen years and
involved in the North Carolina pagan community for the past 4 years. She is a
frequent teacher at Celebrate the Circle and Quest events, as well as other
venues.

Gryphon Rosemead (Wendy Thurston) has been practicing the Craft
since the early 70's and is a High Priestess and an Elder. She has a BS and
MED and is a National Board Certified Teacher of Agriculture in the mountains
of NC and lives with her cat, Grandmother and her new K9 companion. For more
information visit her website at http://www.angelfire.com/nc/gryphon. Contact
her at gryph@pobox.com

Becky Starr is an "eclectic Egyptian pagan" and has been playing in
the herbs for about four years, primarily with incense blending. She is a
teacher by profession and passion, finding herself a now frequent workshop
leader for Celebrate the Circle Learning Circles and Quest events. Becky is
the Workshop Coordinator for Quest's next spring event in April 2004. Becky
is a Priestess of Isis, member and frequent ritual team-member of CTC, and
lives in Durham, NC.

Brenda Berry is the Director of Religious Education for the
Unitarian Universalist Church of the Shenandoah Valley and the Facilitator
for their CUUP's group - EarthWays. She is also the Kitchen Manager in a local
health food store called Harvest Moon. A daughter of the natural world, she
has been studying and practicing Numerology since 1990. Being a Sag, Brenda
dances to her own drum and refers to herself as an "Earth-ee" (rather than
pagan) because she celebrates all the ways of the Earth - from natural health
care, nutrition, & exercise to heal the body; through the use of magick &
Runes, coupled with the use of logic & intuition to guide the heart and head;
to fiercely searching for the light of truth - within & without - to bring
growth and wholeness to the spirit. She enjoys basket weaving, gardening
(organically of course), going for long walks on the beach with her husband
John, singing in the shower, and making people laugh.

Tamia has been a student of herbs since childhood. Herb gardens have
been a fixture in her life everywhere she has lived - even container grown
ones in her apartments at college. She has used herbs in culinary and
medicinal modes for many years, including running a small business, Buckingham
Grange, that sold fine herbal fare at the Hillsborough Farmers Market in the
mid-1990's. Basketry came into Tamia's life in 1994, when she took a course on
the subject at the Durham Arts Council. Baskets and their construction quickly
became another of her passions, one indulged in, from the creative end of the
subject, in the winter - preferably near a fireplace for hours at a time.

Dick Merritt, a retired professional member of the American Massage
Therapy Association, led massage workshops for many years. Dick grew into
paganism through the influence of eco-feminist spirituality in the 80's. It
was a natural fit, given his agrarian background. He is an eclectic neo-pagan
and Unitarian Universalist. Dick characterizes himself as a Joseph Campbell
pagan because of his conviction that religion is metaphor. Strongly influenced
by the Creation Spirituality movement, he describes himself as a panentheist.
He enjoys frequent rituals and purification ceremonies. A techno-pagan, he is
a UNIX technician.